Independence of judiciary

Sri Lanka should implement several key measures contained in a report by a commission which studied lessons to be learnt from a recent civil war, some of which can be done without delay, a civil organization of professionals has said. Sri Lanka’s Organization of Professional Association, a civil society organization said a report by Lessons Learnt […]

by Hemantha Warnakulasuriya The perennial question posed by chauvinists, morbid racists and even moderates, who do not subscribe to the views of the other two groups, is ‘ what are the rights the Tamils are denied as against Sinhalese?’ Even I am sometimes dumb founded by such remarks as a ready answer is not available. During […]

Colombo Additional Magistrate Kosala Senadheera, today   released on police bail eight suspects who were taken into custody from a web site office in Rajagiriya. They were accused of  defaming  the President.On Friday the  Criminal Investigation Department (CID) raided  the office of theSri Lanka Mirror and Lanka X news. A CID   said that they had violated […]

Former CJ Sarath N. Silva ”Your Lordships are aware that the decentralization of judicial functions has been debated since the introduction of the Thirteenth Amendment. The earliest attempts at bringing the necessary legislation in this regard fell through due to the inability of the several parties in Parliament to agree on a common formula. It […]

When gunmen killed the Changkaanai temple priest in 2010, the commander of the occupying Sinhala military in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe, first accused former LTTE cadres, later said SL Army gun borrowed from corrupt troops was used by former LTTE carders, and subsequently all the arrested – two SLA personnel and two alleged former militants […]

 ”Is this a clear message by the government to the judiciary to say the least – “we appointed you and you better look after our interests at all instances and if you step out of line this is the fate that you or your members of the family would be faced with”?” By Upul Jayasuriya […]

Mohan Peiris – no immunity! The Court of Appeal yesterday refused an application by the Attorney General seeking to set aside an order of the Homagama Magistrate dated May 17, 2012, whereby President’s Counsel Mohan Pieris, Senior Legal Adviser to the Cabinet of Ministers, was summoned to testify at the inquiry into the alleged disappearance […]

Prageeth The Appeals Court today (May 31) heard the case of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda’s disappearance.  The court gathered to receive an update of the current proceedings at the Magistrate Court in Homagama.  The Magistrate had made an order May 17 to summon former Attorney General Mohan Peiris for testimony.Testimony would revolve around a statement he […]

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was reelected to a second six-year term in January 2010, and the parliament, which was elected in April 2010, share constitutional power. The government is dominated by the president’s family; two of the president’s brothers hold key executive branch posts as defense secretary […]

GV editors note: In the transcript below and the video of it available on the BBC online, the BBC correspondent in Sri Lanka Charles Haviland asks “Are the terms of your release unconditional – will you be allowed to go  back to politics?”Sarath Fonseka responds by noting that “As yet I have not seen this […]

The BBC Sinhala service reported yesterday ( May 22),  that during Magistrate’s court proceedings relating to Bharata Lakshman Premachandra’s murder, the court was informed by counsel that his daughter Hirunika will be charged by the Attorney General’s department for contempt of court for breaking coconuts after court proceedings on a previous day.According to the report, […]

Hirunika Premachandra, the daughter of Late Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra says that the power of the people’s mandate should be used in a just manner for the benefit of the public.She had expressed these sentiments in a letter addressed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.Hirunika Premachandra has commenced her letter to the President quoting a note from her […]

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted leave to proceed with petitions filed by 51 Jaffna Tamils who allege that the military and police assaulted them in the aftermath of the ‘grease yaka’ (devils) incidents in the peninsula last year. The petitioners also say that their fundamental and language rights were violated by the police forcing […]

The Sri Lankan Supreme Court has ruled that freedom of expression was not an absolute right and could be restricted. The ruling came as it refused a petition filed by the media watchdog — Free Media Movement — against the government decision to ban five news websites. The court refused to allow the case to […]

 ”It is absolutely repugnant that defense secretary of Sri Lanka chose to partner up with the elder brother of quadruple murder suspect to invest tens of millions of rupees in the hotel industry particularly when his business partner is under investigations on alleged tax evasion.” Six months after assassination of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra who was […]

The European Union has called for a fair trial for long term detainees in Sri Lanka. Chair of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with countries in South Asia, Jean Lambert, has told Xinhua that the EU parliament’s position on long term detainees in Sri Lanka is that they should be either charged or released.Several […]

‘Rule of Law, means everything is done according to law, is our constitution followed, no. why even the 13th amendment of the constitution is not followed, what about 17th amendment when it was in force. How many times, the executive betrayed the constitution by not appointing members to constitutional council?’  “We in Sri Lanka in […]

Basil Fernando “I am expected to take my oaths next year, but now I have to rethink whether an attorney could work according to his or her conscience and seek justice for the aggrieved party giving the extreme political pressures the judicial process is subjected to in this country. There has to be a serious rethink […]

The Court case in relation to the disappearance of Journalist Prageeth Ekneliyagoda was taken up for hearing at the Appeals Court in Colombo on April 24. The hearing opened as the Sandhya’s attorney explained the proceedings of the case held at the Magistrate Court in Homagama on March 26.  Sandhya’s attorney pointed out that he […]

”When Mr. Bandaranaike was assassinated the whole country was mourning the tragic loss of its leader and what shocked the consciousness of the nation was that a Buddhist priest was accused of shooting and another Chief Priest of conspiring to kill the revered leader. But, the accused monk retained the services of Lawyers who without […]

”At the time I joined the judiciary, prominence was given to career judges and there were chief justices who had started as magistrates and those days it took only about nine years for a career judge to be promoted as a High Court Judge.  In my case it took me 18 years and when I […]

High Court Judge W.T.M.P.B. Warawewa has revealed that a request made by the Attorney-General’s Department to further extend his term of office by a year to enable him to hear several pending cases has been refused by the Chief Justice.  “The Attorney General’s Department requested that I be reappointed to hear and conclude several important […]

The letter informing me of the date of the interview had been delivered to my Colombo office address. However on the very last day before the date on which the interviews were to be held I suddenly decided to come to Colombo to meet some friends. As I opened the letter, I found that the […]

It is revealed that a situation has arisen where police investigations into 86 extreme crimes are to be shelved. According to CID sources the crimes to be shelved involve extortion, murder and drug peddling.It is revealed that among them are several crimes that sparked outrage in the country. It is also revealed that the crimes […]

This is the text of letter sent by International Commission of Jurists in association with the Law and Society Trust in Colombo to Justice minister Rauff HakeemMinistry of JusticeColombo 12, April 6, 2012 Hon. Minister of Justice Rauff Hakeem, The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in collaboration with the Law & Society Trust invite your […]

In the magisterial inquiry into the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, Homagama Magistrate T.G.S.A. Perera on Monday reserved order for May 17, whether or not to call former Attorney General (AG) Mohan Peiris as witness, The Magistrate reserved the order after the prosecution challenged the validity of the transcript copy of the statement made by […]

The Supreme Court has put off until May 19 a fundamental rights petition against the blockade of certain websites.The Free Media Movement has filed the petition.At a hearing yesterday (Mar. 29), representatives of citizens groups propagating the right to information were present at the court. A panel of lawyers led by J.C. Weliamuna is appearing […]

Former high court judge W.T.M.P.B. Warawewa accuses certain judges of having failed to maintain the dignity of their profession and having no self-strength.  He was speaking in Colombo at a felicitation organized in his honour by the young lawyers association.The former judge alleged certain judges did not know their independence, unaware of justice and would […]

The fundamental rights petition filed before the Supreme Court by 13 employees of Katunayake Free Trade Zone claiming their fundamental rights were violated when police attacked the peaceful agitation carried out by the employees against a fraudulent pension scheme the government attempted to force on private sector employees will be heard.The Supreme Court took this […]

It is revealed that the human rights report regarding Roshen Chanaka who was killed when police opened fire at a peaceful agitation carried out by employees of the Katunayake Free Trade Zone has been cached. The employees carried out the agitation opposing an attempt by the government to arbitrarily introduce a pension scheme for private […]